For an extreme example, look at professional athletes. Drew Brees still had the desire and drive to play, but his right shoulder had simply given out. The final result of an injury over a decade ago. He cannot throw right handed anymore.
A lot of these guys require knee replacements after they retire. Permanently disfigured fingers and toes. Etc.
And we all go through a version of that.
There's a reason painkillers are such a nefarious addiction; chronic pain happens to everyone eventually and has a profound impact on quality of life.
If I just got laid by a 10/10 hottie, I'd probably not care much about my kid intentionally dropping food on the ground.
If I just had a stomach issue that has me tired, out of breath, and mentally struggling, my kid dropping food makes me angry.
Its really easy to say 'let it go', 'be a stoic'. But its much harder when you are in so much physical pain, you can't even work on your life's goals.
Ppl usually getting knee replacements are couch potatoes. Its a not "wear and tear" disease like a lot of ppl belive it to be.
https://footballplayershealth.harvard.edu/for-former-players...
Just because there are more of the "general population" doesn't mean that the subset that are "professional athlete" isn't doing it at a higher percentage.
And there are other, non-extreme, things that also wreck the body. Working in the trades: plumbers, electricians, HVAC, construction, etc. will often leave you with bad backs and bad joints.
And yes, living your life at the extremes is going to have extreme effects on your body. Sedentary is the other extreme of professional athlete.
But even still, as things hurt more, we will be more cautious about endangering ourselves. Or even wondering if we are capable. If I can't walk without a limp, I'm sure as hell not running from danger. That's not cortisol driving our behavior, that's our behavior driving our cortisol.
Regarding your comment on cortisol. Plausibly the relationship between cortisol and behaviour here is bi-directional, as is common with hormones. High testosterone influences me to go to the gym and my workout influences my testosterone, etc.
Mind you, I wasn't completely sedentary before, but I guess that Garmin made me move about 40 per cent more.
I always read that older ppl get happier as they age
From the study linked (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36848104/):
>Yet, longitudinal findings vary across younger, middle-aged, and older adults. Psychological distress decreases over time among younger adults (although only until age 33 for weekly reports), remains stable in midlife, and is stable (monthly) or slightly increases (daily and weekly) among older adults. For negative affect, levels decrease over time for younger and middle-aged adults, and only increase for the oldest adults for daily and monthly affect
tl;dr self actualization brings happiness
I know what I'm good at of the things I've tried, but there's so much I haven't tried.
I'm pretty sure there are things I'd be better at than what I do, but I'm good enough at what I do to earn a pretty good living so that is what I do. I also realize that I'm in a field where even mediocre ability is outlandishly well rewarded, and I try to keep that in mind. There are a lot of people working harder than I do and better and what they do than I am but who are earning a lot less.
I've also accepted that I'll never be able to try everything, and there are some roads I didn't take when I had the chance that are now permanently closed off.
If that happens, then in that 30 year period.. anything could happen! More age extension tech, perhaps! Or copying minds to silicon. And if we get that, then it gives time to figure out the reverse.
We're so close to potential immortality. It's as if we're in a desert and we smell water. Is it a mirage, or a lake??
With the exception of reduced risk acceptance, my anecdotal experience is that a generalized sense of anxiety seems more present in people a few years younger more than older. I'd guess that if surveyed on different causes or topics of anxiety, you'd see a few spikes in certain predictable areas up to about age ~42 maybe, with a more significant gap between there and ~70
If you have a life of lived experiences it can be risky to continue to collect them when you’re less physically fit.
-Sleep -Nutrition -Exercise -Relationships